The long lost princess

Sara smiled bitterly and looked at the place she is in, it was an old shack at the edge of the dark forest, so isolated that no human come near it, only her father visit her twice a week, and sometimes less, he brings her books and food and clothes and spends the night with her, yet it only made her feel more lonely..

Why is father hiding me? she always knew that she was an illegitimate child, yet so what? even illegitimate children are allowed to live by their family's side even without status or inheritance, and she didn't want any of that anyway, so why is her father so ashamed of her existence...

Maybe it was because of her mother, was her mother a bad woman? was she a prostitute that seduced the king and now he is ashamed by the fruit of one night mistake? that can't be, her father rarely talked about her mother yet when he does his voice is filled with love and miss and sorrow, so why is it? why did he dumb her in this place and hide her existence since she was a newborn?

Sara felt like she needed to cry, yet that was all she did for the past 6 months, her eyes were dry, and her heart was numb, even crying now is a luxury she can't afford..

It has been 6 months now since she left the holly tower, 6 months since she talked to another human but her father, the scary dreams and illusions stopped hunting her since she came to this shack, she was able to sleep quietly and peacefully, yet never happily, even when her father visit her, the thought of him leaving her behind in the morning and going back to the palace without her kept bothering her, yet she always kept a pleasant smile and attitude around him, because if it wasn't for her father, she would have gone long crazy...

it is midday now, it was raining for the past couple of days so she wasn't able to go outside the shack, it was okay to roam around the shack in daylight yet it was totally forbidden to go out in darkness, after all, this shack is only few meters away from the dark forest known to be haunted with demons and beasts, she heard their savage howling many times yet for some reason she was not afraid, according to her father, no demon can come near this shack, it was protected by Gods..

Sara walked in the woods silently, beside her footsteps, there was nothing else to be heard, it was a place where both demons and humans evade, so she was safe yet lonely,

Sara made it to the river, and as she wished it was full of fish, she took her cape off and rolled up her sleeves and the lower part of her dress, her silky milk white long legs reflected the sunlight as if they were mirrors, she stepped inside the water and started to catch some unlucky fish with her bare hands, it wasnt long before she was able to grab 5 big fish, more than enough for lunch and dinner, and better yet, she managed to pick alot of mushrooms and berries she found on her way here, she finished much earlier than she thought and she had nothing else to do..

Sara stared at her face in the water for a while, she was used to see admiration and lust in the eyes of servants, and even her father said she was beautiful, yet she never met another female but herself so how can she know what beauty and femininity looked like...so she had to accept herself as average..

How can anyone be considered beautiful with such dirty hair and body? Sara thought, indeed she didn't bath for a longtime now and she was a bit dirty, she took off her dress and jumped to the water to wash her body...

The river was full with sharp rocks and it was pretty much irregularly deep, Sara who did not know how to swim stayed in a low depth area and enjoyed her bath, while rubbing her silky white perfect body she felt a desire to soak herself in the water, so she did, she took a deep breath closed her eyes and dived in the water.. few seconds past when the demonic red eyes suddenly flashed in Sara's memory...

Terrified, she tried to pull herself back yet a current came from nowhere and took her to a deeper area in the river... Sara tried her best to save herself yet couldn't, she couldn't hold her breath any longer and felt like her lungs were about to explode.. she helplessly thought this was the end of her life..